Smokers face large tax increase
Wednesday, December 9, 2009 Today's pre-Budget report, the last before a general election, is bad news for smokers. According to Chris Ogden, chief executive of the Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association, today's announcement has signalled the largest tax increase on tobacco products in ten years.
He said:
“When VAT was temporarily reduced in December 2008, tobacco and alcohol excise duties were increased to compensate, leaving prices broadly unchanged. However, when VAT returns to 17.5 per cent, there will not be a compensatory reduction in excise duty. Therefore, the raising of VAT from 1st January will have a unique impact on the tobacco and alcohol sectors.
"It will lead to increases of between 13-18 pence on a pack of cigarettes, representing the largest single tax increase since March 2000, when smuggling was at its peak. Not only will this increase be significantly above inflation, but it will also take place against a backdrop of rising unemployment and falling incomes, providing further incentives to criminals to illegally import and distribute cheap tobacco to adult smokers and potentially children."
The TMA adds that "The UK has the second highest cigarette taxation in the European Union, behind the Republic of Ireland. Despite a stronger exchange rate and a substantial excise increase in June 2009, cigarette retail prices in Spain are still less than half of those in the UK."
I well remember the days when tobacco smuggling was at its peak. Hardly a day passed without someone calling Forest to ask for our help to retrieve goods that had been confiscated by Customs. Mondays were particularly busy because so many people had fallen foul of Customs on their return from a weekend tobacco/booze cruise.
In those days the guideline was a mere 800 cigarettes per person. Thanks to a campaign that we started in 2000, that guideline was later raised to 3,200, which most people appear to be comfortable with.
Nevertheless, it would be ironic if government policy led to an increase in tobacco smuggling. After all, at its peak tobacco smuggling cost the Treasury £3 billion a year. How the Chancellor could do with that money now!
Simon Clark
Not everyone who contacted us was innocent of smuggling so we had to be on our toes. One morning I took a call from a woman who protested vehemently that she had done nothing wrong. So, how many cigarettes did you have on you, I asked. Pause. "36,000," she replied. I never did find out whether she was stupid, criminal or criminally insane.
Reader Comments (17)
And of course Labour, while claiming to be the party of the poor, are constantly jacking up tobacco duty, which is the most regressive tax of all.
From my experience earlier this year, it seems that some customs personnel are just trying to intimate people into giving up their legal tobacco on return from an EU trip by being threatening, unhelpful and disappearing for long amounts of time, leaving you in limbo.
We had 6000 cigs each, for our own use. He kept on about the guidelines being 15 cartons, I seem to remember, and we reiterated that yes, these were guidelines, not hard and fast rules. We are only able to travel abroad at most twice a year, so what we brought back, all in one brand of Spanish cigarette, apart from 3 cartons we bought in the duty free, which were a different brand as the other was not available there.
The intimidation even got to my husband, which is most unusual and although I complained to Customs and Excise, initially via my MP, their bland, non committed response was the usual whitewash. Thankfully, using a different airport on our last trip, we had no problem.
Flying and just getting through airports since the smoking ban causes me a great deal of added stress and anxiety on top of the depression I already suffer, so I can really do without the stupid games at customs and now carry a letter from my psychiatrist explaining that in such circumstances I am quite likely to suffer a panic attack.
As has been said though, each time the price of cigarettes are increased in the UK, more and more will be smuggled in. The other fear that I have is that drug pushers target children with illegal drugs and sell them to the kids cheaper than cigarettes, or even give them the drugs, in order to get them hooked. The prohibitive cost of cigarettes is, in my mind, leading to far more children trying drugs and many getting hooked. Great move by this caring government, but about par for the course, due to their total and utter short sightedness and sheer bloody mindedness!
I wonder whether Labour's renewed 'class war' is a smoke screen and dog whistle (metaphors intended), the first to divert attention from what they have done to their supporters who smoke and the second to rally waverers back.
The cig tax hike will only effect the complete prats
who still buy UK sold products Anyone with an iota
of sense and fortitude can with a minimum of expense
and effort still buy LEGALLY ,enough baccy to save a
fortune. Naturally HMG will do their best to re define the EU rulings but ,not to worry,the gangsters
are quite capable of filling the vacuum
Handy tip for the suffering Scots
Glasgow or Edinburgh to Charleroi £10 Return Full inc
Golden Virginia £3.65p..Pay sterling
60 pouch guidance allowance last approx 20 weeks
You Save £500 Gov Loses £600....Lovely
I have being paying the Spanish, Greek,French,Belgian governments cigarette taxes for years now.
BARGAIN !
Norman wins a Nail On the Head award.
But this ex-Labour member would rather eat his own faeces than vote Socialist ever again.
Please could I plug a new Free party which, for example, will allow smoking in pubs?
Www.silentmajorityparty.org.uk
Let's see........The lady had 30,000 cigs. That is 150 cartons of 200.
My wife and I go abroad 4 times a year. For our own consumption, we bring back 40 carton between us each time. That is a total of 120 cartons per an. So what is so awful about 150 cartons if there are two or three or four of you?
There is no limit in the EU provided that the cigs are for your own use.
Sorry....I see that she had 36000 ie 180 cartons.....same difference.
On a PRACTICAL note (ie depriving HM Treasury enforcers of their Protection Money), and in light of some of the interesting comments above, could someone possibly answer the following:
1) Where now IS the cheapest place in 'Europe' to buy English fags, and
2) What, generally, is the attitude of the airlines to such 'luggage' ?
I haven't been abroad for some years, and am consequently a little out of touch on such matters........................
(The 12-hour coach trip to Adinkerke is generally pretty grim in my experience)
Martin
Be careful purchasing in Eastern Europe. They are cheaper, but you don't always get what you pay for.
On the whole, I've always found Belgium very reasonable - £3 for Amber Leaf (50g) and £3.80 for Golden Virginia (50g) this summer.
I've not looked into cigarette prices as I smoke roll-ups.
The airlines are fine with the amount you bring back. It's just when you land back in the UK that the British customs can sometimes be a little awkward. As long as it's for your own use though, there's no problems.
The customs know the regular travellers, so if you haven't been abroad for ages, you won't be on their radar.
So much for free-trade within European countries!
Martin, Greece and Cyprus does the exact equivalent of english fags and my husband who smokes Benson and Hedges (3euro a pack) finds that a cigarette called Leader, sold only in Greece, at 2euro a packet is a very similar alternative and only buys this brand when we're there.
We find Spain and Portugal cigs are stronger and of a different tobacco than the british equivalent.
And we have found that some of the fags bought on street corners at home can have dodgy tobacco.
Martin
In Spain, we buy Coronas Rojo 100s (red and white packet) at 27 euros for 200 (= about £25). They are made by JT International which stands for Japan Tobacco Int.... 3rd largest tobacco co in the world. They are well packed and medium strength - a pleasant smoke. English named cigs like B & H are marked up much higher - it is a rip off.
In the Greek Islands, the equivalent is Karelios.
i wished everyone would give up fags for a month and let this shit of a government reap the losses i hate this immigrant loving government they are greedy lying self serving pigs i am thinking of going abroad to top up and Bollocks to the government taxes. We are being robbed.
We have bought our cigs in Spain/Majorca for some years now and found various brands, not available here, but that are similar to smoke and much cheaper.
At the moment, we are on Ronson in packs of 25 and which cost us, the last time about 25 Euro per 200, that was in September, earlier in March they were only 20.50 Euro.
What we tend to do is check out the prices, buy a pack of 20 to try and then decide whether to buy that brand in bulk or not! It has saved us a lot of money in the past.
Pat, go for it, we find that what we save on the cigs, buying them in Spain, covers the cost of us having a holiday at the same time! The bonus is that we are depriving this greedy, good for nothing government at the same time!
The easiest tax to collect is tobacco tax. Smokers cannot fight the devouring felons in government. Smoking rates are falling and the health system is in crisis over funding. That says everything we need to know about the lucrative tobacco tax grab and that for decades snokers subsidised healthcare. Cancer beauracrats are squabbling over funding and are in a bidding war for taxpayer funding. The snte smoking mafia should apologise to those smokers they demonised and treated like pedophiles by depriving them of social interraction in pubs etc. They will soon be looking for real jobs from Delia
Delia, are smoking number decreasing? I thought that since the ban, numbers had, in fact, increased. However, since the ban, I would hazard a guess that many more people are buying their tobacco in Europe! It's one of the few ways we can, for now, stick 2 fingers up this government and their cronies.